


Somewhere Between Heart and Home

by Avengers_Whore



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate!Steve Rogers, Alternate!Tony Stark, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death (not major), Earth-199999, Earth-97775, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, M/M, Multidimensional Travel, Multiverse, Other, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Deserves the Best, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Tony stark deserves the best, timeline Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-03-06 12:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18851452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avengers_Whore/pseuds/Avengers_Whore
Summary: On the one hand, he had Pepper and Morgan. He had Ned and MJ and all of the New Avengers that loved and cared for him. On the other hand, he could finally have Tony and Aunt May back, to hold him and love him like they used to before Thanos tore them all apart.Nothing about this decision was easy - he was just supposed to be in and out, he didn't mean to get caught up in a universe that wasn't his own.But now that he was here...could he really leave it behind?





	1. Into the Multiverse

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to my best friend for planting this idea in my head when I finally ran out of ideas for stories! She came up with such a good idea and I'm looking forward to where I take this. We can probably count on irregular updates but hopefully updates nonetheless.
> 
> Comments and kudos are very appreciated!!

Peter checked the device wrapped around his hand to make sure it was intact before he continued on. There was no sense getting stuck in this universe when he had people at home he wanted to return to, people he loved dearly, even if they weren’t the people he wanted most. The tech around his hand was an adapted version of the timewatch Tony had made two years ago. It still needed the Pym particles which Hank and Hope were more than happy to hand over when the situation called for it.

Instead of taking him back in time, however, this opened up a rift in the multiverse and allowed him to travel between the alternate universes and timelines. And with the problems going on in his own world, Earth-199999, he really just needed to get what he came for and get back before anybody here, Earth-97775, noticed him. Especially the other Spider-Man because that would be a disaster waiting to happen.

Assuming this world had a Spider-Man at all. They’d run into one or two so far.

“Karen, turn on the reflectors,” he requested quietly. He’d made a few updates to the Iron Spider and one of those was adding the reflectors to the suit so he could move around without being seen. Yeah, he had the Stealth suit but this made things easier in the long run.

“Reflectors activated. Please be careful, Peter,” Karen murmured in his ear. He smiled slightly and shot a web, beginning to maneuver his way through the city towards Manhattan. The closer he got, the easier it was to spot Stark Tower which made his heart ache something fierce. He’d spent so much time in that tower, in the labs before they’d moved the Avengers upstate.

He made it to the tower easily enough, starting to scale up the building to find his way into the labs. Assuming this tower was built the exact same way then he already knew which window he needed to go to in order to get in. Whether or not there was an AI watching...who was he kidding, there was definitely an AI watching over this damn tower.

Peter sighed softly and found the window, gently pushing it open and crawling in. He looked up and down the hallway before making his way to the lab doors, quietly making his way inside. He spotted Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers almost immediately, the three ‘bots just milling around and cleaning up.

Or making a bigger mess around their previous mess. Depended on how much you wanted to look at it.

“Alright, Karen, scan the lab and find the vial please,” he muttered, analyzing all of the data in his face. His loyal AI did as asked and began scanning everything he looked at in an attempt to find the vial they were looking for.

In his world, an even more dangerous version of Extremis had been on the rise. Highly explosive, incredibly fragile, and unbelievably damaging to it’s host and everything surrounding them. They’d had a single vial - a _single_ chance - of an antidote Tony had created after his first encounter with the virus.

Carol had been the one to try to administer the antidote, to stop the virus before it could spread to even more people. But their victim had smashed it right out of her hand and into a nearby wall, breaking the vial and splattering the antidote.

So here he was. The plan was to try universe after universe until he found the serum they were looking for and then get back so they could have another go at it. Every moment he wasted here was another moment more damage could be caused back home. It wasn’t even the property damage, it was the deaths and mourning of the Extremis victims.

Tony never would’ve let it get that far, a recurring thought in his head.

The hairs on the back of Peter’s neck stood up in a warning just as he heard the whine of a repulsor charging up. He swore and jumped out of the way just as the repulsor went off, burning the space of floor he’d just been occupying. The reflectors turned off and the nanobots receded from his face as he turned to stare wide-eyed at a very alive Tony Stark.

The man was standing by the doors with one of his gauntlets pointed right at him, the repulsor charging up once more. As soon as Peter’s face came into view though, the repulsor automatically shut down and Tony stumbled back a few steps. His eyes were wide as he looked at the younger man.

“P-Peter?” His voice cracked as he spoke his name and Peter saw the tears welling up in the older man’s eyes. He felt tears threatening to spill from his own eyes as he looked at that familiar face. “You- You can’t be here, I thought-? You’re… You’re d-dead, how is this possible?”

And the more he spoke, the more Peter’s heart broke because as much as he looked like his Tony, this man was still of another universe. And wait a damn minute, did he say _dead!?_

“I’m… I’m from a different universe,” Peter explained quietly as he climbed down from his perch. He took a few tentative steps forward. Tony took a shuddering breath and nodded his head, taking the gauntlet off of his hand. “Your Peter is dead?”

“Yeah. Just last year, actually,” the older brunet murmured, scanning Peter’s face closely. He closed the distance between them, bringing his calloused hands up and cupping the younger’s cheeks. “You look just like him, right down to the dimples. Had ‘em since you were a baby.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because we adopted you when you were a baby,” the genius said, as if it were obvious. His brow furrowed slightly. “Why, when did we adopt you in your world?”

“You never did. I mean, officially you never did, my Aunt May raised me,” Peter told him with a small smile. “May is still in this world, right?”

“Yeah, of course. May and Ben still come over for dinner on Sunday evenings. They came on all of our family vacations too,” Tony told him with a small smile. He wrapped his arms around the younger man and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“It’s okay,” Peter choked out, hugging the older man back just as tightly. The tears were really streaming now and he started sobbing, the emotions finally overwhelming him. If Tony thought it was odd, he didn’t say anything. Instead he rubbed his back and murmured comfortingly in his ear.

“Let’s go upstairs and get something to eat, okay? I don’t know about you but my Petey loved hot chocolate and spaghettios when he was upset,” Tony told him fondly, steering him towards the elevator.


	2. Back In Time

“So I must be dead in your world if you reacted like that,” Tony said as he placed the bowl of spaghettios in front of the younger man. Peter immediately started digging in, sighing happily at the familiar taste. This was basically his dinner on the nights he babysat Morgan since she loved them so much. And if it wasn’t spaghettios, then he was taking her to get cheeseburgers.

“Yeah,” he said quietly, the food turning to ash in his mouth. “You are. It’s been two years now.”

“Do I wanna know how?”

“Saving the world, like usual. There was only...one timeline where we beat Thanos and that win forced you to sacrifice yourself, leave us behind,” Peter told him as he put his fork down and looked at the older genius. “Me, and Morgan, and Pepper.”

“I married Pepper?” Tony asked incredulously although there was a grin on his face. He perked up slightly and chuckled.

“And had a daughter named Morgan,” the younger brunet told him, his mouth twitching up in a smile. “I babysit her when Pepper’s busy with SI.”

“Pictures or it didn’t happen.”

Peter laughed and pulled out his phone, opening up his photos and showing off pictures of him and Morgan. There were pictures of her in her tent, of her in Tony’s garage at the lakehouse, and there were quite of few selfies of he and the small girl. His favorite was the one of he and Morgan wearing the Iron Man and Rescue helmets.

“Well I’ll be damned, I make cute kids,” Tony said with a laugh. He ran off and came back a moment later holding his StarkPad. He pulled open the photos and opened an album titled ‘Peter.’ “I raise cute kids too though.”

Peter smiled wide when he saw a much-younger Tony holding an infant in his arms, his own little face red from screaming and crying and Tony’s face having tear tracks down his cheeks. He flipped through the photos, practically watching himself grow up all over again but this time with Tony instead of May.

Most of the photos were of him and Tony or him and his friends until he turned 11 and then Steve started showing up in the photos as well. His brow furrowed slightly but his smile didn’t lessen in the slightest.

“This world isn’t much different from my own I guess,” the younger pointed out as they looked through the pictures. There was a brief lapse in photos in 2008, when Tony got captured in Afghanistan and he had to stay with May and Ben. There was another very brief lapse in 2013 when Tony challenged the Mandarin.

After that, the photos were consistent and Tony and Steve were especially close in some of them.

“Nevermind, there’s so much that’s different. No Ultron? Sokovia Accords, the Civil War?”

“I have no idea what any of that means,” Tony said with an apologetic smile.

“In my world, a lot of shit went down and it ended with the Avengers splitting up. Steve, Clint, Nat, they were all war criminals pretty much,” he told him with a small shrug. “It pretty much paved the way to losing to Thanos the first time.”

“I can’t even imagine being separated from Steve,” Tony admitted quietly. “What happened?”

“He didn’t tell you that Bucky was the one who...killed your parents,” Peter told him softly.

“Oh. That,” the genius said, looking away. “Well your Steve must’ve hidden it for a long time but my Steve, he told me when he was in the hospital after Project Insight. And… I was upset about it but it wasn’t him, it was Hydra.”

“My Tony didn’t get the luxury of having time to process it like that.”

“Tony?” Steve called shortly after the ding of the elevator. Steve appeared in the archway into the kitchen and froze, staring wide-eyed at Peter. Tony and Peter both looked at him with identical honey eyes. “Pete- Peter? How- I don’t-”

“Steve, baby,” Tony murmured, getting up and walking over to him. “Honey, he’s not our Peter. He’s from an alternate universe, a whole other timeline.”

“Oh,” the supersoldier breathed, not taking his eyes off of Peter. He took a shuddering breath and smiled down at Tony, kissing his forehead.

“I’m sorry but how did I- I mean, how did your Peter die?” Peter asked quietly, glancing over the photos on the StarkPad again before looking back at the couple. Tony winced and Steve wrapped his arms around him, guiding him back over and helping him onto his seat.

“Maybe now’s not the best time,” Steve said quietly. Tony shook his head and looked up at the blond.

“No, no, I’m fine. Um, it was his 18th birthday,” the brunet said as he turned back to Peter. There were already tears gathered in his eyes. “Everyone was here for the party, Wanda and Pietro had come all the way from Sokovia, and May and Ben were here. We had the whole thing planned as a surprise for him.”

“But Pete never made it home. He was on patrol after school and there was a child, a little boy who’d ran out into the street away from his mother,” Steve continued for the brunet, holding Tony tight against his side. There were tears in his eyes too.

“He did what any of us would’ve done. He swung right down into oncoming traffic and he got that kid out of the way just in time,” the genius murmured, leaning into Steve and trying to swallow down a sob. “But a bus hit him straight on. And… that was it. Even with the spider healing, he bled out right there on the street.”

And then he sobbed, closing his eyes and turning to hide his face against Steve’s chest. The blond man curled himself around the shorter, kissing the top of his head and murmuring in his ear. But Peter could hear how broken he sounded.

The young genius got off of his chair and wrapped his arms around both of the older heroes, leaning his head against Tony’s shoulder. Tears welled up in his own eyes but he blinked them back.

“Tony died right in front of me,” he whispered. “He- He snapped that damned gauntlet and the power of the stones… he left me all alone, the only other father I’ve ever had besides Uncle Ben.”

Both of the older men wrapped their arms around him and they all held each other tightly, crying into one another’s shoulders.


	3. Duty Over Desire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO sorry this took so long! I started a new job and I literally work everyday until like 10 at night! But here is the third chapter and I finally decided this story is going to be 5 chapters long total, maybe a bonus epilogue chapter depending on where I end chapter 5. Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated!

Peter sighed softly into his pillow, curled up on the plush bed and struggling to find any semblance of sleep. He could’ve stayed in a guest room, Tony and Steve had given him the option, but he’d wanted to see what their Peter’s room had been like. Other than being cleaned regularly, it hadn’t been touched since his alternate self had passed away.

He looked around the room at the various posters on the walls, all relating to biochemistry and everything science. It was almost exactly like the room he had back in his own universe. He closed his eyes with another sigh, pausing when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. They were light and sure, the gait easily recognizable as Tony’s.

He kept his eyes closed as the door opened slowly and the older man came in, quietly walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed beside him. All of the tension automatically left his body when he felt Tony’s fingers card through his curls. The genius chuckled softly and continued until there was another set of footsteps approaching.

“Tones,” Steve murmured, voiced amused. “Come on, doll, let him sleep.”

“He looks like our Peter,” Tony muttered back, his fingers moving to caress his thumb down the side of the younger’s face. “But look at these lines, the dark circles...this boy has seen things, Steve, things I- _we_ managed to protect our baby from.”

More footsteps as Steve came closer to the bed. A larger hand rested on the back of his head for a moment.

“But he’s not ours, Tony, no matter how much we want him to be,” the big blond whispered, a soft smacking sound as he evidently kissed the brunet’s cheek or something. He felt Tony press a kiss to the top of his head before the bed shifted and the older man got up. Steve kissed his head next and there was shuffling as they both made their way towards the door.

The door shut with a soft click and Peter let out a long breath, shifting on the bed before turning over. He fell asleep easily after that.

The next morning, Peter was up bright and early. He went out into the kitchen and found Tony looking over his StarkPad while nursing a cup of coffee. The brunet looked up and smiled brightly at the younger man.

“So I’ve been going through my lab’s inventories and you’re in luck. I do have an antidote for Extremis lying around somewhere down there,” Tony told him as he took a sip of his coffee. He set the cup aside.

“That’s… great,” Peter murmured as he came over, a small smile on his face. “We should probably find it so I can...go home.”

“Right,” the older man murmured in reply. His smile was sad as he stood up, guiding Peter over to the elevator and both brunets getting in. They were silent as they headed down to the labs, Dum-E and U greeting them with happy beeps upon their arrival. Butterfingers gave a shrill beep and was the fastest to get to them, his claw waving excitedly in Peter’s face.

“Hi Butterfingers,” the young genius said, running a hand along the bot’s claw. “I bet you can help us find what we need. You know where the Extremis antidote is?”

Butterfingers gave a low hum and turned in a 360 before giving a sad beep. Tony chuckled softly and moved passed him to go further into the room. He went over to his workstation and a holo-screen popped up in front of his face, showing off the lab’s inventories.

“Wake up, J, I need you.”

“Don’t you always, Sir?” JARVIS asked, his voice clearly amused and Peter couldn’t help the obvious awe on his face. He’d never met JARVIS, only heard multiple good things from Pepper and Happy.

“Sass, sass, _sass_ , J, what did I do to deserve this?” Tony complained loudly. The younger chuckled and went over to one of the crowded tables in the room and started digging around.

“You made me this way, Sir. Might I ask what it is you are searching for?”

“The Extremis antidote,” Peter told the AI.

“Ah. Perhaps it is in the back of the lab. I’m sure the Mr. Stark of your universe was equally disorganized,” JARVIS told the young genius, drawing an indignant cry from Tony.

“Betrayal!” Tony cried. Peter rolled his eyes and threw a pen at him.

“He was very disorganized, JARVIS.”

“My own kids are ganging up on me!”

Steve came into the lab in that moment with his sketchpad in his hands, quirking an eyebrow at his lover’s obviously-distressed expression. Peter’s cheeks were flushed a light pink but he looked pleased from the older man’s words. His chest felt warm and he couldn’t help the smile on his face.

“What did I miss?” Steve asked curiously.

“Nothing of true importance, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS told him, still sounding amused. Tony huffed and went over to the blond, wrapping his arms around him. Peter chuckled and went further back into the lab. He went through some boxes while keeping half an ear on the other two.

“They’re bein’ mean to me,” Tony whined against his lover’s shoulder.

“Quit complaining and come help me find this serum,” Peter called over his shoulder, shoulder-deep in a box of scrap metal. He heard footsteps and Steve and Tony were at his side looking through the other boxes.

They spent a few hours digging through each of the boxes and moving different half-finished projects around trying to find the misplaced vial. The younger genius gave a groan as he stretched out his back. He looked over when Dum-E started giving excited beeps. He came right over to the trio waving around a vial with a yellow liquid inside of it.

“Ah! Dum-E, you beautiful bot, you found it,” Tony cheered, gently prying the vial from his bot’s claw. “Guess I won’t sell you to a community college after all.”

Peter and Steve walked over with little smiles on their faces, the younger of the pair giving Dum-E an affectionate pat. Tony held the vial out to him with a sad smile on his face while Steve stood beside him, an arm wrapped around the older brunet’s waist.

“Go save your universe, kid.”

“Yes, sir,” the younger murmured, slowly taking the vial. He tapped the spider pendant that was hanging around his neck, activating the nanites that made up his suit. He fiddled with the watch on his hand, setting it to his own universe. He looked back up at the pair he hadn’t seen in two years, his heart aching just a bit.

“We’ll be fine. And you will be too, Petey, you’re the strongest kid we know,” Steve told him with a smile. It didn’t quite reach his eyes, just like Tony’s, just like his own. He nodded his head and hugged both of them, holding on tight. They both held him with grips just as tight.

“Hey, go take care of my alternate universe wife and daughter,” Tony joked weakly, kissing the side of Peter’s head before he pulled away. The younger nodded his head with a soft laugh before pressing the needed button and heading back to his own universe.

He appeared in the Avengers lab, stumbling only slightly before regaining his balance. He took the tech off of his hand and set it down on his work table carefully, glancing at the photo of him and Tony before turning and heading out to look over the rest of the team.


	4. Can't Do It Without You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand chapter 4 is up and running! Hope you all enjoy, comments and kudos are very much appreciated. We are that much closer to the end!!

“Just what the hell were you thinking?” Carol demanded, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Fury and Maria were there as well, watching silently as the Captain chewed him out. Peter sighed softly and leaned back against a table.

“What did you really expect? You asked me to find the Extremis antidote in _Stark Tower_. Of course I was going to get caught!”

“Peter, you were gone for 36 hours, clearly it was more than just ‘getting caught.’ It was supposed to be in and out, you weren’t supposed to engage with that universe’s Tony Stark,” the blonde woman exclaimed, clearly exasperated with one of her youngest teammates.

“ _What more could you ask from me?_ ” Peter shouted, his hands clenched into tight fists and tears gathering in his eyes. “I didn’t plan to stay but once I saw him I- I couldn’t just _not_.”

“I know it’s hard, Peter, but we can’t let our personal feelings get in the way of work,” Carol told him softly, walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder. “The fact of the matter is that we needed that antidote ASAP and it took you much longer.”

“I’m sorry,” the young genius muttered, handing over to the vial. “I’m going home.”

“Peter, wait-”

Peter left the room after pushing the Captain’s hand off of his shoulder, exiting through the closest window and swinging down to the main entrance. His car was still there, the one Pepper had gifted to him shortly after he graduated high school. It had been one of Tony’s many. He tapped his pendant and the suit disappeared as he got into the car, turning his key and tearing out of there.

The drive to the lake house was long and quiet but he made it. He parked next to Pepper’s car and got out, walking up the porch steps and into the house. He made a sharp whistling noise as he closed the door behind him.

“I’m home!”

There was a loud series of thuds as he heard little feet running on the floor above him. The sound came closer as Morgan came barrelling down the stairs and threw herself at him. Peter laughed as he caught her, spinning her around.

“Petey-pie!”

“Hey, Squirt! Did you miss me?”

“Yeah,” the 6-year-old exclaimed with a big grin on her little face. His chest ached a little bit as he looked at her. She looked and acted just like her father, almost as if she was a clone instead of half Tony and half Pepper.

“Peter,” Pepper greeted warmly as she came down the stairs a moment later, her feet bare. She walked over and pulled the young man into a hug, pressing a gentle kiss to his temple. “We were expecting you back hours ago. It’s almost Morgan’s bedtime.”

“I got caught up with the mission. But I’m here now so come on, Morg, let’s go read a story,” Peter said with a big smile, lifting the girl up and carrying her back up the stairs. He laid her in her bed and grabbed one of her books to read to her.

She was out like a light after only half an hour so he pressed a kiss to her forehead and left the room, heading back down the stairs and sitting next to Pepper on the couch with a soft groan. He laid his head back and sighed.

“Talk to me, Pete.”

“You know they’ve been sending me to alternate universes?” Peter asked quietly, looking over at her. The redhead nodded her head. “This last one...I saw Tony. He caught me snooping in his lab.”

“Oh Peter…”

“My alternate self is dead in his world. He’d adopted that Peter Parker as a baby and raised him ‘til he died so it was… just as emotional for him,” the brunet murmured, turning to face her.

“So that’s why you were away longer than intended,” Pepper said thoughtfully, reaching over to tug gently on one of the boy’s curls. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yeah, we got the antidote-”

“No, Peter. Did you find what _you_ were looking for?” Peter’s brow furrowed slightly as he thought about her words. She waited patiently, looking over him with kind eyes.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s alright. You’ll figure it out, you always do,” she told him as she got up. She kissed the top of his head before moving upstairs to go to bed. The young genius watched her go before heading out to the garage to lay down on the cot in there. He rarely slept in an actual bed these days.

-

A week had passed since Peter returned from the other universe. He’d taken a temporary leave from the Avengers and stayed in Tony’s garage for most of it, only coming out when Morgan demanded his attention or when Pepper forced him to go see his friends.

Ned and MJ had definitely noticed his mood and frequently asked what was wrong, how he was doing, all of it. He couldn’t get himself to just tell them he couldn’t stop thinking about that other world.

It wasn’t just about seeing Tony again, it was about his family too. Uncle Ben had been dead for years now and May had only died after the Decimation. He had no family left but that other world had both his aunt and uncle. 

But on the other hand… he promised to take care of Pepper and Morgan.

He took a deep breath and looked at the screens in front of him, all of them running diagnostics on his suit and his web fluid. FRIDAY had been quiet all day but she never spoke much to begin with these days. Even he could tell she was still mourning the loss of her creator. Dum-E, U, and Butterfingers were the same.

“What should I do, Fri?”

“...I’m afraid I can’t answer that for you, Peter. But Boss only ever wanted you to be happy,” the AI responded gently after a moment of hesitation. Peter slowly nodded his head and got up to leave the garage when he saw it was after dinner time. He left the diagnostics running and went into the house just as Pepper was finishing cleaning the dishes.

“Come here, Peter,” she called, glancing at him from where he was hovering in the archway. He walked over and grabbed a towel, quietly drying the plates. “You and I both know this isn’t where you want to be. So why don’t you tell me what’s holding you back?”

“I promised to take care of you and Morgan,” he murmured quietly as he put the plate away in the cupboard.

“You don’t need that responsibility on your shoulders. I told Tony… I told him we’d be okay. And we will be, with or without either of you,” Pepper told him firmly, looking him in the eye. Peter sighed softly and slowly nodded his head, picking up another plate to begin drying off. He opened his mouth to reply.

“Petey-pie?” Morgan said from the archway. He turned to look at her, a small smile on his face.

“What is it, kiddo?”

“Did you really see daddy in that other world?”

The young genius slowly put the plate down and nodded his head, turning to give her his full attention.

“Then why aren’t you still there?”

“Morgan… wouldn’t you miss me?” Peter asked, walking over to kneel down in front of her. “I’ve gotta help take care of you and your mommy, remember?”

“Mommy and I do fine by ourselves,” the brunette told him gently, a small smile on her little face. “I want you to be happy, Petey-pie! And you’re not happy here.”

“You’re so smart, Squirt,” he murmured, kissing her forehead. “You mean it? Who’s gonna teach you how to work in the lab?”

“Uncle Rhodey says daddy taught himself so I can teach myself too. And I’ve got FRIDAY to help me too!”

“Okay, if you’re both sure,” Peter said, looking at Morgan and then looking at Pepper. He searched for any doubt, any hesitation in their eyes.

“We’re sure, Peter. We want you to be happy,” Pepper told him, kneeling down and pulling both brunets into her arms. She pressed a kiss to the top of Peter’s head and then to the top of Morgan’s head.

-

“So this is me officially resigning from the team,” Peter told Carol from his spot in his chair, looking up at the blonde woman determinedly. She was staring at him with wide eyes, clearly surprised by his reasons and choice.

“Peter, you can’t really-”

“I can’t keep sacrificing my happiness for a world that’s only been cruel to me,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve had everything taken from me and I finally have a chance to have it all back. I want to take it. So I’m resigning from the Avengers and I’m going, there’s nothing you can say to stop me.”

Carol looked him over, looking in his eyes. She was probably looking for any doubts he might have, any way she could convince him to stay. When she found nothing, she merely nodded her head and smiled at him.

“Alright then. As long as your mind is made up,” she replied, signing her name on the bottom of the paper.

“It is. I wish you guys the best of luck, Captain,” he said, standing up and holding out his hand. She surprised him by standing up and walking around to pull him into a hug.

“Be happy, Peter Parker.”

“Thank you,” Peter murmured with a small smile of his own. He stepped back and left the room, heading to the labs to grab the multiverse device. He put it on his hand and setting it to the universe he wanted. He stared at the numbers for a few moments before taking a deep breath and hitting the button.


	5. Definitely Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is, the final chapter! Thanks to everyone who followed this story, who left kudos and comments, they're very appreciated! There may be a bonus chapter in the future!

Peter looked around the lab with a soft smile on his face. He’d brought a small bag of personal items with him, things he wouldn’t be able to get in this world since they were precious memories of his actual universe.

“Welcome back, Peter,” JARVIS greeted, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice as he recognized the brunet. “We weren’t expecting you back. Sir and Captain Rogers are both out of the Tower on Avengers business, but I can get you a link to their comms if you’d like.”

“No, that’s alright, JARVIS, but thank you. I wanted to go see Aunt May and Uncle Ben first, let them wrap their heads around me,” the young genius told him with a laugh. He headed towards the elevator and went up to the penthouse floor to put his bag in the living room.

“If you wish. With any luck, the team should be back this evening to have their pre-scheduled Chinese takeout dinner. Shall I add enough for you?”

“Yeah, that sounds great! I’m sure I’ll be back by then,” Peter told him as he went back to the window. He tapped his pendant and let his suit cover him. “See you later, JARVIS.”

The suit wrapped around his head and Karen greeted him amicably as he opened the window and threw himself out. The reflectors in his suit activated to keep him hidden as he swung through the city towards Queens.

He came down on the fire escape of his apartment building, the one he’d grown up in with May and Ben for all his life in his own universe. He smiled softly as the familiarity and climbed into the room he’d called his own. His enhanced hearing caught the sound of two voices outside of the room and his smile widened.

-

Peter spent a little over three hours explaining everything to May and Ben after having scared the hell out of them by just _appearing_ in their apartment. They’d been mostly confused at first as he tried to explain the different timelines and alternate universes and then he’d had to explain how his own world was going.

He’d nearly started crying when he talked about Uncle Ben’s death and then he _did_ cry when he started talking about Aunt May’s and Tony’s. Both of them had been quick to wrap him up in a tight hug, surrounding him on either side and soothing him like they’d used to.

More tears welled up in his eyes just at the thought.

Now the three of them were sitting on the couch looking through photos. They told him all sorts of stories about the other Peter and being raised by Tony. They were nothing but fond as they spoke and it gave him a warm feeling in his chest as he listened intently. They didn’t speak of the accident or any differences between him and his alternate counterpart.

“I always thought that Tony needed you just as much as you needed him,” May said with a smile as she looked through the family photos from when the other Peter was a baby. Tony was holding him in every single one, a big smile on the older genius’s face. “Nothing but bad publicity about him until you came along.”

“He quit drinking, he stopped going out to parties,” Ben told him. “He took to parenting like a fish to water.”

“I don’t doubt it for a minute,” Peter replied, looking over the photos as well. He stared at his own baby self. There was no difference between himself and his counterpart and that suddenly struck something in him.

There were no physical differences but what about emotional? Mental? Personality? And then another thought struck.

What if Tony and Steve didn’t _want_ him to stay?

He froze and his breathing stuttered, drawing May’s and Ben’s attention.

“Peter? What’s wrong?”

“Wh-What if they don’t want me? I’m not- I can’t replace him-” Peter stuttered out, closing his eyes tightly.

“That’s nonsense,” Ben chided softly, pulling the brunet close. “It’s not about replacing anybody. You can’t, no one can. But they need you just as much as you need them, Peter, that’s a fact.”

“Of course they want you, they’ll always want you no matter what universe it is or where you come from,” May agreed, kissing the side of his head. He slowly nodded his head and leaned into both of them, soaking in all of the comfort they offered and letting himself feel vulnerable.

After another couple of hours, they all said their goodbyes and he made his way back to the Tower. His chest still felt tight with anxiety but at least he wasn’t crying. He sighed and pulled himself in through a window with a soft grunt. He tapped the pendant and his suit slowly receded.

He found himself near the common room where he could hear all of the various voices of the original six Avengers plus a few more. He made his way down the hall and peeked around the corner, spotting all of them spread out on the couches and floor with takeout boxes all around them.

Peter took a deep breath and knocked on the archway before stepping in, looking sheepish as everybody looked over at him. Tony choked on his mouthful while Steve dropped his chopsticks entirely, both of their eyes wide. Everyone else was gaping at him, even Natasha and Bucky.

“Great, we’re haunted,” Clint complained loudly after a moment. Natasha punched his arm, gaining a yelp.

“Peter, what are- how- what are you doing here?” Tony asked, scrambling up and hurrying over to him. “The antidote worked right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it worked great,” the younger genius murmured, smiling at the older. “I’m, uh, I’m not here about that.”

“Then why…” Tony trailed off with a small frown on his face. Steve came over and wrapped an arm around the brunet’s shoulders. He eyed Peter for a moment before a smile broke out on his face.

“You’re here to stay.”

“I am, if you’ll have me.”

“Oh Petey,” Tony breathed out, his eyes getting shiny. He pulled the brunet into a tight hug, refusing to let go for even a moment. “Dammit, of course you can stay. Fuck, I’m gonna cry now.”

“Oh god don’t, if you cry then I’ll cry and I’ve already cried enough for both of us today,” Peter told him with a shaky smile. Steve chuckled and pulled both of them into a tight embrace.

“What is even going on? How is Peter here?” Clint asked now, crossing his arms over his chest.

“He’s from an alternate universe,” Tony told him, pulling back slightly to look at the rest of the Avengers. “He was here last week looking for the Extremis antidote to help out his universe.”

“And he’s… back now?” Bruce asked cautiously.

“It’s… a little hard to explain, I guess. Tony, my Aunt May, and my Uncle Ben are all dead in my world and after seeing this world...I just wanted them back. So badly,” Peter murmured, clinging to Tony and Steve. Natasha got up and came over, looking over him with a critical eye before nodding her head.

“Welcome to our world, little spider,” the redhead said fondly, smiling slightly. “Come sit down and eat.” She tugged him over to the rest of the team, leaving Tony and Steve to follow.

“Now I know why JARVIS ordered extra,” Tony said as he sat down again, leaning against Steve as he sat down as well. Peter sat next to them and grabbed one of the unopened cartons.

-

“Did you want to stay in Peter’s room again? Or we can open up a guest room and you can make it your own,” Tony said as the trio stepped out of the elevator onto the penthouse floor.

“Guest room, please. I don’t… I don’t wanna intrude on what’s left of him,” Peter murmured with a small smile on his face. “I was already scared shitless you wouldn’t want me so…”

“Peter, why on earth would you think we wouldn’t want you?” Steve asked, his brow furrowed as he looked down at the young genius.

“Because I’m not… I’m not your Peter.”

“No, you’re not,” Tony said hesitantly, walking over and putting his hands on the younger man’s shoulders. “You’re not a replacement, there is nothing in this world that can replace what we’ve lost, Peter Parker. Just like how I’m not a replacement for your Tony either, right?”

Peter nodded his head, tears gathering in his eyes.

“But that doesn’t mean we want you any less. Or that you would want us any less,” Steve told him, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. “Understand?”

“Yeah,” the young brunet said with another nod, smiling slightly. “Yeah I understand. Thank you.”

“Good. Now go pick a room kiddo,” Tony told him. Peter nodded and grabbed his bag before heading down the hall where the bedrooms were. “Steve, is this really happening?”

“Yeah, Tones, it’s happening,” the tall blond murmured, wrapping his arms around the genius and tugging him against his chest. “I’ll take him shopping tomorrow to get some things, why don’t you go see Peter while we’re out?”

“Yeah… yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

-

It took a few weeks of subtly introducing him to the public. There was no easy way to explain how an exact look-a-like of Peter Stark suddenly reappeared a year after his death. Plenty of people accused Tony of creating a clone to fill the gap. Some still believed that over a possible multiverse they couldn’t wrap their heads around.

It was whatever. Let them believe what they wanted, but Peter was happy to be with Steve and Tony. The other Avengers too. Over the weeks, he’d slowly turned the guest room he’d claimed into something a lot more personal. He had plenty of posters covering the walls and his own portable chemistry set on his desk.

The bedsheets had been changed to a mix of red and blue, matching his Spider colors. He shifted in them now, grunting softly as he stretched out his arms and legs. His bedroom door creaked open as Tony poked his head in, smiling when he saw Peter.

“Time to get up, kiddo, it’s almost 10,” he murmured as he walked over. He sat next to the younger genius and ran his hand through his curls.

“Don’t wanna,” Peter grumbled, hiding his face in his pillow. Tony snorted and rolled his eyes, gently tugging on his hair.

“Come on, Steve even made breakfast for you. How late were you out patrolling?”

“Til like… 4.”

“Peter, I swear to Thor…” the older genius sighed softly and pulled the covers off of the younger. “Come on, up. Eat some breakfast, you’ll feel better. I’ll let Steve lecture you about staying up so late since I’d be a hypocrite.”

Peter groaned but got up, scratching at the back of his head. He grabbed a hoodie off of his floor and put it on, blinking blearily. He followed Tony out to the kitchen where Steve was finishing heating up a few waffles, eggs, and bacon. The super soldier smiled when he saw the two brunets.

“Good morning, Peter. We were beginning to think you’d never wake up,” Steve joked, setting the plate down on the counter for him. The younger sat down and happily dug in.

“Was up late,” he muttered around a mouthful, groaning happily.

“Pete, you can’t keep staying out ‘til morning, you know that.”

“How do you know I wasn’t working on my college applications?”

“Because I wasn’t born yesterday,” Steve told him with a smile, ruffling his hair. “Though you should be working on those.”

“Yeah, I know,” Peter told him with a small smile. He finished eating and looked at the both of them. Tony was watching him with a fond smile of his own, his arms crossed over his chest.

“MIT on your list?”

“Of course it is,” he said, rolling his eyes at Tony’s question. “It’s good for the mechanical engineering, but you know I wanna do bio.”

“Yeah, I know, I know, the squishy sciences,” Tony said, nudging him. “At least Harley wants to be a mechanic.”

“See? That’s why you’ve got both of us,” Peter joked, chuckling. He yelped as he was pinched, smiling when Steve and Tony both started laughing. He watched them and felt a sense of peace. He loved this. He loved being here with them. He loved seeing May and Ben every week.

He missed Pepper and Morgan but… he felt like he’d finally found what he didn’t know he’d been looking for. Home.


End file.
